A Slice of Orange
“Wonderful, absorbing, mesmerizing - a gift."
Satya Franklin, author of The Promise of Paradise: A Woman's Intimate Story of the Perils of Life with Rajneesh and other books about Rajneesh
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When Nicola Ranson discovers that her peace-loving community is responsible for over 750 poisonings, her world implodes, and she sets out to uncover her journey from youthful idealism to FBI surveillance. She untangles the web of love and coercion that led her to the secluded Rajneesh commune: source of the largest domestic bioterrorism attack in modern U.S. history.
In A Slice of Orange: loving and leaving the Osho/Rajneesh cult (Unsolicited Press, 12/26), Ranson delivers a deeply personal account of her experiences inside the commune, offering a raw exploration of cult indoctrination and the power of coercive control—topical in today’s polarized world.
Her story begins with immigration from England followed by a strict Canadian convent school, leading her to seek freedom and adventure in the counterculture. A traumatic experience in the Sahara severs her ties to family, propelling her toward transcendence through magic, theatre, and ultimately the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Immersed in the guru’s radical vision, she travels from India to Oregon, embracing an open marriage and the commune’s spiritual ideals—until paranoia and criminality arise. As she faces revelations of poisonings, wiretapping, and attempted murder by the leadership, Ranson is forced to confront the shocking truth about the movement she once revered.
Now a psychotherapist, Ranson uses her expertise to examine how easily we all fall under the sway of influence and control. Her story is a tale of reckoning, resilience and recovery. With the book’s publication in Oregon, she offers a personal act of reconciliation for the harm inflicted by the cult in the 1980s.
*****
“Ranson’s memoir is one helluva ride! Revealing, but self-reflective. Chock full of gripping detail.”Janja Lalich, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico, international authority on cults, author of Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships
“A Slice of Orange is one of the most evocative, clear-eyed, and empathetic memoirs I've read from Rajneesh's disciples." Russell King, author of Rajneeshpuram: Inside the Cult of Bhagwan and Its Failed American Utopia and creator of the podcast Building Utopia: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
A Slice of Orange will be released 12/8/2026 by Unsolicited Press, Oregon.
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"The Visit" is an excerpt from A Slice of Orange. It one of the short stories featured in Shaking the Tree Vol. 3. This video of “The Visit” is a reading/performance by Tara Sampson which took place at the 2019 Memoir Showcase at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, CA. Watch it through to the end to see the interview of Nicola Ranson and Tara Sampson.
These two Shaking the Tree anthologies have published excerpts from Nicola Ranson's memoir, A Slice of Orange.
Shaking the Tree Vol. 3 is an anthology of the winning entries in the 2019 Memoir Showcase. The excerpt from Nicola Ranson’s memoir, A Slice of Orange is “The Visit,” about her parents’ visit to see her at the commune known as Rajneeshpuram in 1984.
Shaking the Tree Vol. 4 is a winner of the 2023 BookFest contest! Nicola Ranson’s contribution is "Casablanca Asylum", a dramatic excerpt from her memoir, A Slice of Orange.
All Shaking the Tree proceeds go to the San Diego Memoir Writers Association, a community of local writers committed to the craft and business of memoir writing.
